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is so widely spread, that we fear the principle itself must have taken deep root in the mind of the author, and have been nourished there with hopeless perversity of taste.

We have before remarked in this article, that the habit of abstract speculation has led some writers of the present day into an affectation of a mystical, vague, and unintelligible phraseology. This defect of style we must lay to the charge of the Idle Man; and we will illustrate our meaning by one or two examples.

In his remarks on Kean's manner of playing Othello, we have the following curious piece of criticism.

In the passage beginning with

O now forever

Farewell the tranquil mind,

there was a mysterious confluence of sounds passing off into infinite distance, and every thought and feeling within him seemed travelling with them!"

Again, in a Letter from Town, we have this description of a person:

His eyes had that look between suspended thought and inward contemplation, which makes the finest eye in the world. For the most part there was a rich haze over them, but when they turned their notice outward, they rayed out, like the sun bursting through a mist.'

Again, in Musings, we have the following observations upon the character of a man of fine imagination:

All that the eye falls upon, and all that touches the heart, run off into airy distance, and the regions, into which the sight stretches, are alive and bright and beautiful, with countless shapings and fair hues of gladdened fancy.'

Again, on the same subject:

The ordinary acts, which spring from the good will of social life, take up their dwelling within him, and mingle with his sentiment, forming a little society in his mind, going on in harmony with its generous enterprises, its friendly labors and tasteful pursuits. They undergo a change-becoming a portion of him, making a part of his secret joy and melancholy, and wandering at large among his far off thoughts!

Now the greater portion of these extracts not only give us no definite idea of the author's meaning, but hardly furnish

the most distant clue to it; and we think this language far more perplexing than that of the blind man, (mentioned by Locke,) who compared his idea of the color of scarlet to the sound of a trumpet. Lavater himself, we think, would have been nonplused in an attempt to explain a look between suspended thought and inward contemplation, or an eye with a rich haze over it. Then we have thoughts and feelings travelling off with the sound of a man's voice into infinite distance! So we are told that whatever the eye falls upon runs off into airy distance; and finally, (by a catachresis, none of the most gentle,) that the ordinary actions of social life form a society in a man's mind, and wander at large among his far off thoughts! We confess all this wanders far off from our comprehensions, and we trust our author will bring his thoughts in future a little closer to the standard of common language, for the benefit of ordinary readers. In our opinion, this mystical phraseology arises from a too free exercise of the imagination on such abstract subjects as require the closer scrutiny of reason. Sense is refined away into the most subtle sentiment; and the vague conceptions of the writer become unintelligible from the indefinite language, in which they are disguised. Dark and mysterious sentiment may be conveyed by a skilful selection of definite language, and in poetry (where this is more allowable,) it often heightens the sublimity; but indefinite sentiments, disguised in indefinite language, become absolute nonsense, and as such make no impression on the understanding of the reader.

The work is moreover well sprinkled with such unusual and antiquated terms and phrases, as could be recommended by nothing but the infrequency of their use among writers of the present day. There is, besides, a perpetual straining after simplicity, which circumstances, as they naturally beget a quaint and feeble diction, are a serious disparagement to the intrinsic beauty of the sentiment. We have expressions like these: 'A tree lays itself out upon the air.' 'We sit in the secret of our own souls.' 'Imagination grows forgetive.' Unbought grace uttering itself in every movement of the outward man.' 'Cannot make knee to,' for cannot kneel to. 'I cannot away with it,' for I cannot endure it. The eternal going on of nature,' for course of nature. 'Touch at the eye,' for touch the eye, &c. &c. which feeble amplifications, when frequent, destroy the vigorous compactness of our idiom, and convert particles, from

being the joints of a language, into mere supernumerary members of it. We are aware, that some of these and similar phrases are dug out of the obsolete vocabularies of some of our greatest writers. But they wrote before the full development of our language, and to revive them now is to revive not the graces, but the feebleness and inaccuracies of the days of Addison.

We know there are some, who admire these affectations, as the indication of original and refined taste; and we are for this reason the more strenuous in entering our protest against them. We do not wholly agree with Madame de Stael, when she says, 'il n'est point, en general, de symptome plus sûr de la sterilité des idées, que l'invention des mots;' but we do think that the invention, or what is much the same, the revival of obsolete expressions, or any other affected deviation from established phraseology in the present perfected state of the English tongue, is an indication of excessively bad taste, as it must draw off the attention of the reader from what is really valuable in the thought, to the eccentricity of the expression; and must authorize, by its example, every new adventurer to invade the standard of the national currency.

We should be much gratified, could we flatter ourselves that our remarks, (should they ever find their way to the author of the work before us,) would have any influence in correcting this perversity of his delicate genius. But we have no reason to expect it, both because the whole has the appearance rather of system, than of accidental deviation; and because in his very last number, after expressing his contempt for the opinions, either of reviewers, or of scholars, or of the public, upon literary productions, he frankly informs us, that the persons in his opinion most competent to form such opinions are those self-taught men, who live out of literary society!

But although from these circumstances we cannot hope to make an impression upon the author of the Idle Man, we trust our remarks will in some measure counteract any baneful influence, which its undeniable virtues may have given it over the tastes of our readers.*

We have said that the style of composition in our own country has in general been plain and unambitious. We intended to apply this remark, however, to scholars and to professed

* We cannot quit the Idle Man, without expressing our obligation to the Muse, who has enriched these pages with such eloquent pictures of American scenery, as must add new and valuable treasures to descriptive poetry.

writers. The general tone of our popular compositions has been showy and declamatory, a natural result of the influence of free and independent forms of government upon the buoyant spirits of a young, enterprising, and prosperous people. Under the continued patronage of these liberal institutions, (which must always operate powerfully on the genius of a language,) we trust that the English tongue will put forth its energies with new spirit and freedom. But as this is the natural tendency of our political system, we should early endeavour to regulate it; and it is particularly incumbent on every scholar in the present daily, we may say hourly expansion, of a more cultivated literature, to set an example of pure, perspicuous, classical composition, and not to mislead the unpractised judgment into extravagance or

affectation.

It is more particularly the province of works, of the description we have been examining, to set this example. As specimens of fine writing, as works of taste, they come before the public; and it is in their power, if well conducted, to hold a salutary control over the taste of the public, especially over that of young and plastic intellects. In this way they may be eminently useful. We look upon them as the transitory beauties of cultivation, which may exercise a propitious influence on the public mind, when they themselves shall have passed away, and by the introduction of a finer taste, prepare it for the growth of a more elegant and a more enduring lite

rature.

Edward Everett,

ART. XVIII.-Circulars addressed to the American members and patrons of the American Academy of Language and Belles Lettres. By the Corresponding Secretary.

THE second and third of three circulars of this kind are before us, and are more particularly within our view, in the few remarks we design to make. The newspapers of the day have informed the public of a project for an American Academy of language and belles lettres; and the circulars, which have been published, contain an account of what has been done towards its organization, but consist principally of the correspondence between the corresponding secretary and

various gentlemen of the highest respectability in our country, upon the general subject of the institution. We should fail in our duty to the public, did we omit to express our opinion of an institution coming forward with a namie, and on a plan so imposing; and if our remarks should not command the approbation of the gentlemen who have been most active in the measures hitherto adopted, we hope at least we shall not be thought to exceed the limits of fair dissent.

The American Academy,' as appears from the second circular, was organized in June, 1821, by the choice of at President (the Secretary of State of the U. S.) three Vice Presidents, a corresponding and a recording secretary, a treasurer and eleven counsellors, one only of whom is an inhabitant of the state of New York. In addition to the names of the foregoing officers, a list of twenty eight members resident at New York is given, a second list of corresponding members from the several states of the union, and a third list of foreigners proposed as corresponding members. By whom proposed, or on what principle of selection, we have found ourselves, so far as concerns the last, much at a loss to conjecture.*

* We cannot but regard the following as an extraordinary explanation. "The list of officers and members is furnished, as far as under present circumstances it can be made: but that of the members is to be considered only as an approximation to one strictly accurate. Our extensive territory, and the imperfect knowledge of the character of our scholars, as such, make it a work of time and much difficulty to obtain correct information, and to introduce the literary men of the United States to an acquaintance with each other. The proposal of such an institution was new, and many with the best wishes doubted its practicability Some, from motives of prudence, waited to see the completion of its arrangements and the list of its members, previous to committing themselves. The number of members who have in form been admitted and given their decided assent is between ninety and one hundred.' We call this extraordinary, on comparing it with the following version of the same passage in a second edition of the same circular.

'The list of officers and members is furnished, as far as under present cireumstances it can be made out: but that of the members is to be considered only as an approximation to one strictly accurate. Our extensive territory, and the imperfect knowledge of the character of our scholars, as such, make it a work of time and much difficulty to obtain correct information, and to introduce the literary men of the United States to an acquaintance with each other. The proposal of such an institution was new, and many with the best wishes doubted its practicability. Some, from motives of prudence, waited to see the completion of its arrangements and the list of its members, previous to committing themselves. To some whose names are used it has not been convenient to communicate the requisite information. A few names are inserted of candidates, who, from what is at present known, will be admitted. It is difficult to draw a perfect separating line under present circumstances. The number of members who have in form been admitted and given their decided assent, is between ninety and one hundred.'

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